Spatial patterning of thin films on surfaces is of great importance for basic physical sciences and technology. In order to reach ever faster and more complex performance of computing machines, nanometer size conducting wires and complex structures patterned over semiconductor, oxide and metallic substrates are currently at the forefront of modern technological efforts. However, basic scientific issues, such as diffusion of adsorbates on surfaces [1-3], film growth mechanisms and submicron metallic electrodes for conductivity measurements, often rely on spatial patterning of thin films.
Periodic patterning of adsorbate coverage [1, 2] has been demonstrated by means of Laser Induced Thermal Desorption (LITD) [4, 5]. This method, while being applicable for weakly bound adsorbates, may lead to surface damage in the case of strongly bound species.
Metal deposition on surfaces assisted by a homogeneous xenon buffer layer has been developed utilizing the Buffer Layer Assisted Growth (BLAG) procedure [6, 7]. It was demonstrated to be a very efficient way to grow well-defined metallic clusters on semiconductor surfaces.